Ok, you win. XOM is making money hand over fist on refined products and doesn't care about crude dropping $100/barrel. I guess I have no idea why they are slashing capital expenditures by billions with all this Mobil 1 money....

[quote]some of the highest profit margins can be realized when companies shrink overhead and reduce costs. [/quote]
You really think the good times are when you are selling your product at $40 a unit versus $140 a unit?...

[quote]quote: Exxon Mobil’s Q2 income falls 52% by RedRifle excellent....good time to buy some more of their stock...[/quote]
Yes, contrary to the thoughts of the crowd that hates energy companies, XOM and others will slash capital expenditures to keeps dividends up....

[quote]You obviously missed "to an extent" in my statement. [/quote]
You are 100% incorrect to any extent. Energy companies are constantly monitoring economic conditions. It takes $1 billion just to drill an exploratory well in deep water. If you think energy companies aren't scrutinizing econ...

[quote]My point is that the large E&Ps have such deep pockets that to an extent they don't allow the price per barrel to affect their planning.[/quote]
[img]https://d.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1381413874ra/4832055.gif[/img]...

Wells aren't a one-time expense. They require continual work-over - and that's just the hole in the ground. Then you have the facility to maintain, and all of the mid-stream operations, and all of the down-stream operations. It takes a hell of a lot of cash just to maintain your current productio...

Sorry, but exploring, producing, transporting, and refining petroleum doesn't compare to being a landlord. It is an extremely capital intense business. A one-time purchase of a building and mortgaging it for 30 years is apples-to-oranges....

[quote]They managed to make $4.2 billion in a bad business environment.[/quote]
[quote]ExxonMobil expects to allocate $39.8 billion to capital expenditures in 2014.[/quote]
You invest $40 billion in a year and net only $4.2 billion a quarter and tell me that it's ok....

[quote]The news today from the wires that the Saudis are going to cut back is the missing piece of the puzzle that should cause oil to trade at these levels and not go much lower. I say not go much lower because we do have Iranian oil coming in soon if the deal is signed.[/quote]
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